Detroit, Michigan
Teaching Kids to Care for Dogs Teaches Them to Care for Each Other.
Detroit Hearts & Hounds is a K–12 program building empathy, responsibility, and community: one classroom, one shelter, one child at a time.
- K–12
- All grade levels
- 5
- Program phases
- Detroit
- Where we work
- Empathy
- At the core
Detroit's kids and Detroit's dogs need each other.
Detroiters filed 863 dog-bite reports in 2025, and more than half of American children are bitten by a dog before they turn 12. Many Detroit students meet dogs every day, as pets, as strays, as the dog behind a neighbor's fence, yet few are ever taught how to read one or what to do when one runs at them.
Detroit Hearts & Hounds changes that. By learning to read a dog's body language, care for shelter animals, and advocate for animal welfare, students develop the same skills of empathy, patience, and responsibility that strengthen families, neighborhoods, and futures.
See the evidence behind thisWhat students gain
Skills that go far beyond the shelter.
Understanding another creature's feelings is the foundation of every meaningful relationship.
Weekly shelter shifts teach students what it means to show up: a skill every employer depends on.
Students learn to see Detroit's animal welfare challenges as their own, and to act.
Students explore real careers and graduate with credentials recognized by Detroit CTE pathways.
Every dollar builds empathy.
Your gift funds enrichment supplies, program materials, and the coordinators who make it all happen.
Donate now